Rescued Goose Eggs

[sigridsj]

Help! My daughter "rescued" six eggs. We have no idea how old they are but we have them in an incubator. We candled them but aren't sure what we are seeing - pretty good sized shadows in the eggs. Can anyone give some advce? Should we just wait and see?

Thanks!

 

[mahsmaj]

depending on where you live they are probably from a canadian goose

 

[Kim65]

I have never incubated any egg, ever so I don't have direct advice. Search this forum for incubation and hatching (there is a dedicated forum on the index) for the proper humidity, which I believe is different for goose eggs. There are also pics and tips for candling and determining growing critters inside.

Hopefully you will get direct advice from the pros.

And you may need to surrender the babies to a wildlife rehab, or get a permit. I'm really ignorant about that, I just know that wild fowl have some legal restrictions.

Keep us posted on how they do!

 

[Windchyme]

Quote:
Well they need the same temp as chicken eggs- around 99.5 and do NOT go over 101.5 as 102 temps kill eggs, same humidity (around 40-50-%)until the end and on my goose eggs I turn off the heat for 20 min then mist well with a spray bottle each day. Other then that just wait. Once they pip pop that humidity up to 70-80% to help them get out of the eggs or they'll get stuck and die. If you get that far let me know when they pip and I'll give you further information on how that goes.

Shadows- like a yolk shadow which is not really dark but rounded and maybe a slightly orangy darker color then the rest of the egg, nice and round? Or shadows as in truly grey or dark areas or whole sections of the egg with parts of the egg having a bloodish tint to the inside. You might also see veins or even movement. I look for veins and movement in an egg to see if it is alive but once they get older you won't see either very well so don't give up on them. If the dark is grey/black dark and it fills most of the egg and if you can detect veins at the top, those babies are fairly old and will be hatching soon. By hatching the chick almost fills the egg completely and alot of times there will only be a tiny bit of space at the base of the air cell that has a bloodish tint and you may or may not be able to detect a few veins. A bloody circle with the interior clear or with a dark shadow in the middle of the clear area is bad...those have stopped developing.

I would look with candling and see if it is as I described. See if you can detect movement, basically the shadow will move. Sometimes I gently tap on an egg that isn't having any movement to see if I can provoke it to move. If you get even one that moves there is a good possibility that more are alive. Geese go for about 30 days start to finish. You can estimate the age depending on how much of the egg is filled with the dark shadow.

Now as to the issue of what they are. If they are canadian geese there might be rules where you are about keeping them. You may have to turn them over to wildlife rescue once they hatch. I'd look into what the rules say if they hatch as canadian geese is the most likely suspect. If you raise them there is a good possibility that they will fly away together at the proper time...especially if they see others flying over that can lead them. I am the kind of person that I would let them go and do as they are destined to do rather then try to make them stay. My kids found mallard eggs one time, we raised them and eventually they flew away to be with the other ducks in the area.

 

[sigridsj]

Thank you soooo much - I will "re-candle" with your advice and see what I can make out.

As for keeping them - I think they should go to nature as soon as they can. I will keep you posted. I am hoping this is a fun experience!

 

[adrian]

I absolutely agree with Windchyme - low humidity to start, high humidity during hatch. I am very successful hatching geese at 40-50% during incubation and 80-85% after they make their first pip. They come out just fine, and usually very quickly! With those numbers, I've not needed to assist a single egg.

When you candle, use a very strong LCD flashlight. With thick-shelled eggs like goose eggs, this is the only way to be sure of what you are seeing.